KARACHI, Feb 18: Four men, including three activists of the Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat, were gunned down in two attacks apparently on sectarian grounds in the city on Monday, police said.

In the Patel Para locality, assailants riding a motorcycle fired at the people coming out from Subhani Masjid within the remit of the Jamshed Quarters police station after offering Isha prayers and rode away.

Five men sustained bullet wounds in the attack and were shifted to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre, where three of them were declared dead on arrival.

The police said that the dead were identified as Abdul Reheem, Raju Bhai and Haji Shahrom Mian.

An ASWJ spokesman claimed that all the three victims were affiliated with the group. However, a spokesman for the Awami National Party claimed that one of the victims, Haji Shahrom Mian, was their party member.

Violence erupted in the locality soon after the incident, as enraged people took to streets, pelted moving vehicles with stones and set fire to three motorbikes in the parking lot of the Aaj TV office on Business Recorder Road.

Panic and fear gripped the entire area, where all businesses were shut. The Patel Para locality and adjoining areas reverberated with heavy firing.

The police fought pitched battles with the protesters, fired into the air and lobbed teargas shells to disperse them.

Police reinforcements were also called to tackle the situation and create a buffer between the protesters on Petal Para Road and the other group of protesters staging a sit-in at the Numaish intersection.

ASWJ man killed in Surjani Town An ASWJ activist was gunned down in Surjani Town on Monday.

Police said that armed motorcyclists targeted Haji Fayyaz Soomro, 50, near Farooq-i-Azam Chowk in Khuda Ki Basti and fled.

The victim died before he could be taken to hospital. The body was shifted to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital for medico-legal formalities.  Tension gripped the locality following the murder.

The ASWJ spokesman said that the victim was an active worker in Surjani Town.